An Enlightening Epiphany
by Kyndeyrn
Summary: Harry loves Draco enough to stop fighting, enough to be friends, enough to let him be happy...but with who? HPDM ONESHOT.


Disclaimer: "It is a new world." –Shakespeare in Love

Warning: Slash

**An Enlightening Epiphany**

And so he walked, down the corridor and away from Draco Malfoy. Every step he took shredded his heart and burned the nature of his soul, but still he continued to walk. For the third time this week he had stopped another fight between the two of them, cutting it off before it could even begin in fact, an act most unusual for Harry Potter, that is, in relation to Draco Malfoy. Though it was true they were mortal foes, there was something about the Slytherin that had always made Harry detest fighting with him. Of course he had on several occasions, fought with him that is, but the teen had always regretted it, always loathed the hatred that shown on the other's face and now that he had defeated the necessary process of denial of emotions, he was determined to end the feud and at least create a neutral sense between the two, anything to stop the hatred. For you see, Harry loved Draco. Only one other knew his secret, his dear friend of nearly seven years, Hermione Granger. He had figured she would be more understanding then his friend Ron, a speculation that had turned out to be quite correct. Oh she had been skeptical at first:

"Now Harry, are you sure it's love, not just some physical attraction?" she had asked, showing no alarm at the unexpected news.

"No, Hermione. There's something about him, the way he moves, talks, thinks even! It's always been there you know, always, I believe I've always seen it as well, and yet, only now do I truly understand. I think I've always loved him, Hermione, just never realized it."

It made sense, Hermione later reflected, everyone always said there was a fine line between love and hate. Harry's passion had manifested itself as loathing. It was entirely possible and she wasn't one to doubt Harry's word so she did the only thing she could do, take it in stride.

And thus Harry was quite thrilled on the day it was announced that Professor Binns had decided to go on an extended holiday due to the sudden realization of the state of his death. He, unlike his classmates, was not excited at their teacher's absence, but rather the assignment they had been given in order to continue their learning in the subject until a suitable replacement could be found. A project that was to be done in randomly assigned groups. They were to work in the library during their scheduled class time. Truth be told, Harry could not quite recall what the assignment was, but he could however tell anyone that his project group consisted of himself, Hermione and none other than Draco Malfoy.

As the three of them sat at their table in the library upon the first class session of the new agenda an awkward silence fell. Normally, Draco would be making jibes and taunts at his group mates, but due to the fact that Harry had been unusually kind to him of late, Draco remained as silent as the two Gryffindors.

"Er, shall we begin?" Hermione broke the silence a moment later.

Draco looked at her curiously, blinked, and responded quite civilly, "Yes, of course."

To a normal student the hour passed quite uneventfully, dully in fact, but to Harry it was practically a dream come true. He and Draco exchanged words, nothing too deep, but at least nothing bitter either. At one point their hands had brushed as they both reached for the same book, an event that had caused ripples of lightning to pass through Harry's body. To make matters better, he could have sworn he had spotted a smile on the blonde's usually sneering features. Draco was also quite polite to Hermione; once during the hour Harry even saw the two of them conversing in what appeared to be a friendly manner.

The next History of Magic period found Harry attempting to suppress a foolish grin that had some how found its way onto his face. He and Draco were having an actual conversation, not some pathetic school related exchange, but a fully fledged discussion.

"Yeah, for as much show as they put on, my parents really don't care all that much about me anymore." Said Draco after briefly telling Harry about how his parents had neglected him over the holidays, flying off to Brazil and leaving him alone at the mansion.

"Why's that?" inquired Harry with genuine curiosity.

The other shrugged and smiled sadly, "I suppose it's because I refused to take the Dark Mark."

"You what!?" this was definitely news to Harry.

"Yeah, after the incident in the ministry during our fifth year my ideals have changed, I prefer to remain neutral in the war." He remained silent for a second before adding, "I don't even know why I'm telling you all this…"

"Because I'm here," Harry suggested.

Draco nodded thoughtfully, "I suppose that's as good a reason as any."

The days passed and as they went, Harry's conversations with his former nemesis became steadily more and more personal. Draco spoke of his childhood, a complete foil to the childhood Harry described, and slowly, ever so slowly, the two of them became friends. However, the black-haired teen noticed something as well, something that could not be denied for much longer. As much time as Draco was spending with Harry, as intimate as their new friendship was becoming, Harry noticed that Draco was spending just as much time, if not more with Hermione. On top of this, he always seemed painfully cheerful after these little chats and even began to talk and meet with her outside of class. As much as Harry tried to look away and pretend it did not exist, it was becoming rather obvious that Draco was falling for Hermione and, unless Harry was sorely mistaken, his long time friend was becoming rather fond of his new love interest.

Harry confronted her about it one late night in the common room:

"Oh don't be ridiculous, Harry!" she exclaimed, glancing nervously toward the flickering flames in the corner.

"Are you sure?" Harry's eyes begged her for the truth.

"You know I like Ron!"

"Hermione…"

"All right, Harry, all right! I might sort of kind of maybe might like Draco a little as well, but don't worry, I'm not going to peruse the feelings or anything!"

Harry went to bed leaving Hermione wondering if she had been right in confessing this to her friend. She already felt terrible about the whole matter.

The next day, the other half of Harry's suspicions was confirmed. Draco approached him in the library and spoke softly as though he did not want anyone to overhear, though Harry knew there was only one person he was worrying about.

"Look, Harry, we're friends right?"

Despite himself Harry could not help but smile, "Yes, Draco, I suppose we are."

"And you're friends with Hermione and I'm friends with Hermione…"

"Get on with it Draco." Harry knew what was coming and emotionally braced himself.

"Well, I was thinking of asking her out and I wanted to get your opinion on how to do it…" he said in a rush.

Harry felt his heart crumble, but faked a smile, "Ah, good for you mate!" he said falsely, clapping Draco on the back and reveling in the contact, "I'd suggest just going up and asking her."

"Really, just like, right now?" He looked tentative and partially overwhelmed.

"Sure, why not?"

"Ok…if, if you think so." He began to walk away from Harry, over to Hermione.

"Draco!" called Harry after him.

"Yeah?"

"Would this, I mean, going out with her, would it make you happy?"

The blonde nodded, perhaps a hint of regret shown in his eye, sounded in his voice, perhaps not, "Yeah, Harry, it would make me very happy."

"Good." He didn't stay long after that. He saw the other boy walk over to his friend and stammer out his statement, saw Hermione glance over in his direction and felt himself give a numb thumbs-up, then he saw them embrace and before he could see anything else he left the library, fighting back tears as hard as he fought back the feelings of betrayal. Perhaps if he had stayed a little longer he would have seen what else followed:

"Draco, we can't do this," said Hermione regretfully as the broke apart.

"What? Why not?" Draco looked hurt.

"It's not you," she bit her lip. "It's Harry?"

"Harry? What about him?" He looked puzzled.

"Oh, Draco, don't you see? Harry loves you! He loves you like I never will, I mean I like you, but he…"

Draco smiled a new light suddenly shining in his eyes, "He loves me?"

"Yeah."

"I've got to go; I fear I've made a terrible mistake. No offence, I really do like you…"

Hermione laughed, "Just go already! I've still got Ron." She grinned and said a little more determinedly, "I've still got Ron."

Harry walked down the corridor miserably, _At least he's happy._ He kept telling himself, _At least he's happy._

"Harry!" the shout came from behind him, he turned and felt his heart sink at the sight of Draco Malfoy rushing towards him.

"Hey, Draco." He said, pathetically feigning happiness.

"Harry, I'm glad I caught you. I've made a mistake, that is Hermione told me, I mean, what I'm trying to say is-"

"Draco, what are you babbling about?" Harry asked, the light of hope beginning to rise in his chest.

It was about this time, Draco decided that he wasn't doing a very good job at conveying his message in words and so, quite abruptly, he kissed Harry. For someone so taken aback, Harry recovered quickly and happily kissed him back. A moment later they parted.

"Love you, Harry."

"Love you too, Draco."

A/N: Yay, a happy ending. You're all happy now right? So happy for little Harry and Draco that you want to send me lots of reviews.


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